by Michael Sheehan on September 23, 2011
in Consumer Electronics, Family, Gadgets, General, google, Hardware, iPad, parenting, Review, Tablet
A few weeks ago I received a pre-production version of a new tablet targeted toward children ages 2-4 or so called the “VINCI Tab“. I had been dying to review an Android-based tablet, but the VINCI threw me for an unexpected curve. It really is not what you might expect. While it is technically a tablet, it is really a crippled one. But it is crippled for an important reason and that is something that I didn’t immediately get.
Typically when I get a product, I just jump right into it without reading instructions, or if I do, I try to keep that at a minimum. My goal is to see how well a product “works” without having to read a manuscript on “how” it is supposed to work. For me, the usability factor, coupled with understandability, is core to a products success. Initially, the VINCI for me failed this. But there is actually a reason why and it makes sense.
I’m pretty spoiled by using an iPad as my primary tablet so getting to poke around the Android-based VINCI was definitely a bit of fun. However, one of the first things that I did when I turned it on, was to explore the OS a bit. The screen showed some bars for signal strength, but yet when I tried to activate the wifi, I received an error. Obviously, I was not one of the people who had actually read up about how and why the VINCI was designed.
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A while ago, I wrote a blog post about how I do blogging. That was over a year ago. Times have changed, tools have evolved and processes have gotten better, at least for me. I still believe that how your blog or write is extremely personal in nature and what may work for me, might not for others. I would, however, like to offer some “best practices” that I use that I have found provide efficiencies for me.
To quickly outline how I write an article or blog post, here is a high-level process and the free tools I use. However, I’m going to go into a bit more details with the Evernote and DropBox steps as these are 2 items that I find to be core to my process. Oh, and you might want to take a look at my “10 Strategies for Finding Quality Time to Produce Content” for some tips on content writing.
So, here’s how I currently do my blog writing:
- Concept – save a title for an article (Evernote)
- Start Writing – get your ideas down (Evernote)
- Create Media Content – take pictures and photos (Picasa, DropBox)
- Consolidate – move it all to your blogging software (Live Writer)
- Review/Editing – edit it all, print out and read (PAPER!)
- Post & Promote – get your article live & share it (WordPress, Twitter, Facebook)
Those are pretty much the 6 easy steps that I use as well as the free tools that I use for each step. Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps and how I uses the various tools.
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by Michael Sheehan on January 25, 2011
in Apple, CES, Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, General, google, Hardware, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Mobile, Opinion, Tablet
Apple has tablet competition…and lots of it. The iPad has been reigning supreme for over a year and only now are some possible contenders starting to pop up. The next iPad model is due in April, or so the rumors are saying. By all intents and purposes, Apple is well ahead in the tablet race having come to market early on with a precise, full featured and elegant piece of engineering.
But as I saw at CES 2011, new tablets are coming, and lots of them at that. Many manufacturers are going to come after Apple to try to topple them from their current throne, much the way the smart phone industry is playing out. iPhone dominated smart phones for a long time, but then there was an influx of Android-based smart phones which has pushed Apple from pure dominance (although we should pay attention on the ripple effect of having Verizon carry the iPhone now – will there be a shift to Verizon? Will AT&T loyalists be happy with freed up bandwidth? Or will Android phones continue to gain market share?).
This is what I’m concerned about for tablets, as it has already happened in smart phones. Customers are going to be overwhelmed by choices. What size tablet to get? 8″, 9″, 10″, 11″ or what? What Operating System would be the best? Android is clearly one of the best OS choices in my mind. But what about JoliCloud or MeeGo? Let’s say that the industry seems to gravitate to Android, will it become the same fractured mess that it is with smart phones? That is to say, with the Android phone market currently, different carriers have different versions of Android. While Google may release a new update, it could take weeks to months before it appears within a carrier’s smart phone line due to customization or testing. Will this be the same experience for tablets? Just walking around CES I saw Android 2.1, 2.2 and 3.0 devices out there. Obviously, you want the one with the later version, but then you need to look at the hardware powering it. Intel chip or Motorola? And what type of inputs? SD slots? And outputs? HDMI?
Another thing to consider in the tablet race are the apps. Apple has proven that the App Store is crucial and core to the success of devices similar to these. They are so behind the idea of the App Store, that they introduced it to their desktops running the latest Snow Leopard Operating System. The Android Marketplace is strong but it is sort of the uncultured cousin of Apple’s App store. Regardless, I do think that Android tablets may be the more cost effective and higher performing platform to get.
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Well, that definitely is a cryptic title, isn’t it? Hopefully this post will help to clarify and provide a fix (that DID work for me). Let’s cut to the chase!
History
I was subscribed to a Public Google Group (let’s call it “Dads R Us“). I had my primary email address (lets say it’s me@my_domain.com) subscribed to this Public (the free version) Google Group. Whenever I sent an email to that group, I would receive a copy of my post (or reply) via email. Essentially, “back to sender” was working fine. I post and receive a copy in email.
Recent Changes
I recently signed up my primary email (me@my_domain.com) with Google Apps – another story altogether. When I tried to access the “Dads R Us” public Google Group, because of my change, I had to create a new Google Account to log in. No issue there, I just changed it to a temporary email (me2@my_domain.com). But then I wanted to get my original email back into the “Dads R Us” group. I asked the Group administrator to allow access, which he did, but I was blocked still. This was because I hadn’t enabled Groups within my Google Apps (another story). Eventually I figured out how to enable Groups within my Google Apps and then I was able to add my original email back into the “Dads R Us” group. Everything was running great…or so I thought.
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